USA Wrestling, the national governing body for wrestling in the United States, has selected Spokane, Wash. to host the 2018 and 2019 Cadet National Duals, a major age-group national event in the Olympic wrestling styles.

This is the annual national dual meet championship in men’s Freestyle and Greco-Roman at the Cadet age level (15-16 years old). The event features USA Wrestling state association teams from across the nation competing in a dual meet format.

Spokane becomes only the eighth city to host the event, which was created in 2000. This marks the first time that the event has been held in the western time zone. Only five other states have hosted the tournament (Colorado, Missouri, Minnesota, Florida and Pennsylvania).

The local organizing committee is the Washington State Wrestling Association (WSWA) and Spokane Sports Commission.

“We are honored to have USA Wrestling select Spokane for the Cadet National Duals,” says Eric Sawyer, Spokane Sports Commission President and CEO. “We have a very strong local wrestling community along with a history of hosting many national and regional wrestling events, we are excited to be the first city in the west to host the Duals.”

The competition will be held at the Spokane Convention Center June 12-16, 2018 and June 11-15, 2019, which is also the home of one of USA Wrestling’s major Folkstyle Tour of America events, the Bigfoot Battle.

“USA Wrestling is pleased to select Spokane as the host city for our popular Cadet Nationals Duals. Spokane has proven time and time again that it is a tremendous wrestling city, and we expect our event to grow and thrive there. The bid to host the Cadet National Duals allowed both USA Wrestling and Washington USA Wrestling to benefit tremendously. We look forward to bringing the nation’s best Cadet wrestlers to Spokane for the next two years,” said Pete Isais, USA Wrestling National Events Director.

The most recent Cadet National Duals were held in York, Pa., with Illinois winning the Freestyle team title and the Minnesota Storm capturing the Greco-Roman title.

USA Wrestling has held other major events in Spokane, including the 1996 U.S. Olympic Team Trials in freestyle wrestling, as well as the 2002 Freestyle World Cup.